Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Russian Opolchenija from Filippo

Just before leaving for a 2 days business trip to London, another great work from Filippo: a squad of Russian Opolchenjia. Above, the commander and priest/standard bearer (a modified figure from Mirliton Miniatures).The first half-squad...And the second half-squad (with colpacks).The complete Opolchenija squad: Steve Barber and Front Rank miniatures.Thanks Filippo!

I'll try to explain with my poor english.Shortly, what do you need:1- a plate (or similar, it will contain water, so waterproof ;-) )2- a piece of "wax paper", the paper your wife/mother/ use to cook.3- (clean) slim sponge, used normally to wash dishes.4- water;5- brushes;6- some miniatures LOL;

This system is normally used by professionals... have a look here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2NCU3LMofQ or here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfiAbzHiTWg

That's the hardware howto... the key of this tecnique (software) is to thin/mix color wisely.There are many things to think about:- primer: white, grey, black will change a lot the final result- first coat, getting the right base color, eg: Vallejo "cavalry brown" is a good base for red, - Mix base with right color to acheive final highlight. All the tecnique is based on watered colors, so you'll start with the darkest one adding few parts of new color each pass... for a nice red from 5 to 10 different steps.- "Color wheel" theory, every tecniqhe got his fundamentals. - Lot of errors and unexpected results: Mix a tear of yellow into dark blu to highligth it, this get to:- Never use white to highlight a color (almost true)

It's a long process, I know, but once masterd (not my case till now) it really worths.

I surely will not use this for hundreds of 15mm, but it's perfect for SDS, with its 10/15 pieces each squad.Ciao

Another simple benefit of the wet palette is that your paints don't dry out so fast. I've seen wet palette used for normal painting, just benefiting from smooth paint mixing and the fact you could use your paints a day or two and they woldn't dry.

Great work, awesome flag... even if the flag has a problem: the fabric of the flag is so rigid that it seems metal. Such a nice job of painting a flag that deserved a flag that would follow the natural folds of the fabric.

Wet palette is very very userful to people (like me) who could/would paint every day.

to Tundra: you're right... I noticed too, I planned to print the "banner" on tissue paper.My printer was out of ink, and the only available could not handle those kind of sheet. Maybe I'll do it again next days.Ciao